WildCRU

On the menu. A samba deer calf may be an important component of
Sunda clouded leopard's diet

At long last we are beginning to churn through the mountain
of camera trapping data we have been accumulating over the last few years and to
turn it into conservation science. Our most recent paper, available from here,
explores the terrestrial activity patterns of the Sunda clouded leopard and
those of their potential ungulate prey.

I say potential, because at this stage we really don’t know
what these cats are eating – in fact, we know almost nothing about even the basic ecology of these elusive felids. We have a number of anecdotes and sightings
of clouded leopards attacking this species, and eating that, which tend to
suggest that the clouded leopard has a very varied diet, feasting on a diverse
array of mammals from monkeys to muntjacs. But we really don’t have a good
handle on what constitutes the most important prey.

Ultimately, the only way to answer this
important question is to collect scat, and poke around to quantitatively assess
prey composition – and this is something we are attempting to do right now.
Another, indirect approach is to explore overlaps in activity between the
predator and their prey – by making use of camera trap data. We might expect
predator activity to be often in phase with the periods when those potential
prey species are most vulnerable to their method of predation. For some
predators, this may result in their activity patterns mirroring those of their
prey, as has been shown in several felid-prey systems, but this may not always
be the case.

Saving their bacon? Bearded pigs were shown to have a more diurnal activity
pattern when clouded leopard were present - evidence of avoidance?

With this in mind we catalogued the tens of thousands of
images for clouded leopard and prey from across our forest study sites, and
used some clever wizardry to construct models of each species’ activity patterns.
So what did we find? Firstly, Sunda clouded leopard’s terrestrial activity was
found to be primarily nocturnal, although crepuscular peaks and some diurnal
activity was also evident. We found that
of six potential ungulate prey species, Sunda clouded leopards' activity
patterns overlapped most closely with those of sambar deer and greater mouse
deer.

Interestingly, we also found that in one of our forest areas
where clouded leopard were apparently absent, bearded pigs showed a greater level
of nocturnal activity, whe compared to pig populations living alongside the predatory
felid. This finding suggests that bearded pigs may be prey species for clouded
leopards and they are capable of altering their activity pattern in response to
this risk.

A glimpse into the life of a clouded leopard. This was the first ofsix males we recorded.

Male 2 wanders along a high ridgeline early in the morning

Well it’s been a fair while since I last wrote on here – so high
time for another update on our progress with the clouded leopards of
Borneo...

Following directly on from our
survey of the Crocker Range the team and I packed up and headed to an old stomping
ground – the Danum Valley Conservation Area.

The last time we were here, way
back in 2006, we struggled to get sufficient numbers of photographic detections
of clouded leopards to estimate their density. Armed with far more, and
arguable much better, camera traps, and hopefully a little more wild cat savvy
than in the past, we headed into the forest along once familiar trails and
ridges, in search of Sabah’s elusive felids. Not wanting to make things too
easy, we set ourselves the hardest task to date (yes, even harder than Crocker’s
punishing mountains): 80 camera stations over 150 km2. This took the team a gruelling
6 months to complete, the vast majority of it spent camping at makeshift camp
sites – but thankfully it was most definitely worth it.

One of only two detections of the bay cat. In seven years we've only recorded this cat around 30 times

We photographed an amazing 9 nine different
animals, six males and 3 females, on 93 distinct occasions, which is a record
for us! Marbled cats were coming in thick and fast too, with a total of 53 independent
photographic detections, yet we photographed surprisingly few bay cats, only
two occasions. Whilst these reddish/grey cats appear to be rarer than chicken’s
teeth, and so I wouldn’t expect to get many of them on camera, we actually
fared much better back in 2006/7, despite a hugely greater effort. I suspect
this is more a reflection of our heightened ability to place cameras in clouded
leopard areas as opposed to there being less bay cats – but more on these thought
later.

A rather nice turn-up for the
books was the Hose’s civet, which to my knowledge is the first confirmed record
for this species in Danum. Suffice to
say, the second crack at Danum Valley has been a complete success, and I thank
my team for putting in a huge effort!

All our hard work hiking up and down Crocker Range's high ridges and river valleys has thankfully paid off.... We've got a result! I’m still tweaking the analysis, but overall we obtained 370 clouded leopard photos,
representing 51 independent capture events of 8 different animals. Two of
these animals appear to be cubs following their mother. Using the spatially
explicit capture recapture approach I estimate that clouded leopard density in the southern portion of Crocker is around 1.4 individuals per 100km2 (0.8 - 2.2 ind/100km2 95% Confidence Intervals).

This was one of the toughest surveys to date and when we first started we weren't sure we'd pull it off. So a big thank you to the team - Gil, Gul, Jasz, Nur and Ijam for doing a sterling job. Thanks also to our volunteers - Sean Proctor, Kevin Hodge and Lyndsey Stanton, who all stood up remarkably well to the rigors of Crocker Range life! Lastly, a big thank you to all the organisations and individuals that have supported us, in particular, Staff from Sabah Parks and the Sabah Wildlife Department, Karen Povey and the Clouded Leopard Project at Point Defiance Zoo, Houston Zoo and The Kaplan family.

We are now offering volunteer placements for individuals to help us conduct a clouded leopard camera trap survey of the Danum Valley Conservation Area. If you fancy experiencing the ‘real’ Bornean rainforest, learning new skills and helping us learn about the elusive Sunda clouded leopard, then read on...

Sunrise over the Danum Valley - one of Sabah's last remaining primary rainforests - and one of the last remaining places
on Earth where Sumatran rhino, elephant, clouded leopard and orang utan live side by side.

Return to Danum....

Our camera survey of Crocker Range is now complete and the data will shortly be analysed - more on this soon. Meanwhile our team have now moved onto perhaps the jewel in Sabah's crown: the Danum Valley Conversation Area.

Back in 2007 Danum was host to the first ever attempt at a camera trap based assessment of clouded leopard density. Ultimately though, we never reached our goal, due primarily to a lack camera trap, sub-standard camera equipment, and a lack of expertise. I'm pleased to say that thanks to our sponsors the camera traps are no longer a problem - and with six surveys under our belt since our last visit here I think it's fair to say we now have the expertise.

A rarely photographed clouded leopard cub, one of three animals previously recorded in Danum Valley.

What/Why?

Our
work is focused on providing basic, yet scientifically sound information
regarding the Sunda clouded leopard and other threatened felids in Sabah to
help guide viable conservation strategies for these species. As such, one of
the core questions that we are attempting to answer is:

What
is the distribution and conservation status of Sunda clouded leopards and other
felids throughout Sabah, and what factors affect their presence and abundance?

To help address this question we have developed a research approach primarily
constructed around multiple 6-month camera trap surveys designed to estimate
clouded leopard densities and felid community structure in areas of forest
exposed to different forest management strategies. Few data exist
regarding Bornean felid communities, with your efforts, we can ensure that we
gain the best possible information we can.

When?

We
are looking for volunteers to start as early as the beginning of May 2012, but
positions will be available throughout the survey – ending in September 2012.
You must be available to work on the project for a minimum of 1 month,
although we will consider taking on candidates for shorter periods if they
already have sufficient experience. Get in touch if you are interested and
we’ll take it from there.

Where?

The Danum Valley Field Centre

The
Danum Valley Conservation Area http://www.searrp.org/danum-valley
is located deep within Sabah, Malaysian Borneo (4º50′N – 5º00′N and 117º35′E –
117º45′E). The Danum Valley Field Centre is approximately 70 km inland from the
town of Lahad Datu on Sabah’s east coast.

Covering
43,800 hectares (438 km2), the Danum Valley Conservation Area is one of the
largest, most important and best-protected expanses of pristine lowland forest
remaining in SE Asia.

Danum
Valley, and several other large primary forest protected areas including the
Maliau Basin and Imbak Canyon Conservation Areas, are embedded within an
exceptionally large (>10,000 km2) forest concession operated by Yayasan
Sabah (the Sabah Foundation). The bulk of the of the Yayasan Sabah area is
under a regime of natural forest management, but also includes extensive timber
and oil palm plantations, community forestry programmes, eco-tourism sites and
two of the region’s largest forest rehabilitation projects.

Duties

Volunteers
will assist with all aspects of the project (see earlier posts on the blog for
an idea of what we get up to), including, but not restricted to: mapping and
creation of forest trails and incorporation of spatial data into a GIS, deploying
and checking camera traps over an approximate area of 150km2 of forest, and photographic data management.

Requirements

We
are ideally looking for candidates with (or currently undertaking) at least a
first degree in an appropriate Natural Science, although this is by no means a
prerequisite and we will happily consider keen individuals with a demonstrated
interested in wildlife conservation. Above all else candidates should
have an extremely high level of fitness and a willingness to work in a
challenging environment. The work will involve very long and arduous
hikes over difficult terrain, and will frequently necessitate camping for up to
10 nights at a time at remote locations. Volunteers
must be able to carry 50+ litre rucksacks weighing between 15-20 kg. The ideal
candidates will have some experience of the activities described above,
although this is not essential as full training will be provided.

This
is an extremely rewarding position working in arguably one of the most beautiful forests remaining on Borneo. However, I simply cant overstate just how important it is for volunteers to be physically fit. In the past we have had to turn down candidates simply because they were unable to deal with the conditions. Please think this through before applying!

Costs

Unlike other projects we
will not ask for any contribution towards project costs. However, you must be able to
cover both your own transport costs to Danum Valley Field Centre, Sabah, and
your subsistence costs (i.e., food and accommodation costs at field sites).